


The Worst Never Happened

by orphan_account



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, Angst and Romance, F/F, Feels, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Sad, Sad with a Happy Ending, or sort of happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 15:04:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5095103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was bad. So, so bad. But she couldn't redo it.<br/>Max chose to sacrifice Arcadia Bay and save Chloe. But she regrets it immensely.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Worst Never Happened

This was bad. So, so bad. But she couldn't redo it.

Chloe gave her two options, sacrifice her, or sacrifice Arcadia Bay.

The place they grew up in, the place most of her great memories lie.

But she needed Chloe.

She could focus on the photo and go back to when she took the butterfly picture in the bathroom at her school and let Chloe die, or she could kill everyone in their town. She regrets her decision.

"No! Fuck that!" She said as she ripped the picture.

At the time it seemed like a good idea to her, her own selfishness clogged her vision of what the right thing actually was, and whether she liked it or not, it was sacrificeing Chloe. But Chloe held her hand as they both cried watching their hometown get blown away and torn apart by the mega tornado. Max watched as items were brought into the tornado only to be tossed out when it hit the top, she even saw a few people be tossed. Everyone must be hiding. She cried harder at the thought of all her friends dying, everyone who she met that didn't deserve this. Nobody deserved this. Not Nathan, not Mr.Jefferson, nobody she could think of. Because how is being crushed by debris or being tossed across town and dying in agony swift justice?

She felt Chloe's hand tighten, then let go. She turned to hug Max, not being able to look at the tornado anymore. But Max couldn't look away. _She_ did this. She should have just went back in time, because yes, she needed Chloe, but everybody in Arcadia Bay needed somebody too. They all needed to live. Most wanted to live. And _Max_ caused this mess.

Caused the whales to wash up on shore, caused Chloe into getting into a car crash by making her dad live even though she knew it would have consequences, caused Mr.Jefferson to find them by not going to the police, cause Kate to jump off a roof by not being convincing enough to tell her that everything would be fine.

But she would be wrong.

Max believed in a God and a Heaven and a Hell. And a Purgatory and magic and voodoo and meditation and karma and pretty much everything at this moment.

Because there's something about watching the only real home you've ever known and everyone you've ever really liked and loved die that causes you to think about things like God and the universe.

Except she didn't believe in herself anymore. She caused this, she's a murderer.

Kate's in hell and Mr.Jefferson isn't in jail, Chloe's mom isn't alive and Warren can't be here to calm her down. It's just her and Chloe, and she hates to admit that she regrets her decision, but she does.

The rain stops and the tornado gets thinner and thinner until the water being sucked into it makes it collapse.

They sit down for at least thirty minutes on the bench by the lighthouse just watching the sky clear up. Her and Chloe shared a sad look, still crying, and slowly got up to move toward Chloe's truck. Max had accidentally left the window cracked so she had to sit in a small puddle. The sky was clear now and there was a rainbow shining down.

So beautiful...so tragic.

They drove into town slowly, looking at the damage the storm had caused. Every house was torn or collapsed, every few feet of sidewalk had shattered glass on it, everybody was gone. They passed some bodies and even a few dead animals as they drove through the town. And now, more than ever, she hated herself. Those people didn't have to die, Chloe would have went quick and nearly painless, Nathan and Mr.Jefferson would be in jail and Kate would be alive. And who knows what else good would have happened?

Chloe stopped the stuck and put her hand on Max's shoulder, bringing her out of her wild depressing thoughts.

Chloe stopped the stuck and put her hand on Max's shoulder, bringing her out of her wild depressing thoughts.

"Why?" Chloe asked.

"Because I need you."

"You could have reversed all of this...you can still go back right? I mean, you have other picture before I was shot, right?"

She was right.

But the picture closes to the date she was shot that she had was taken over three years ago, and every other photo at her dorm was wet or swept away by now. She couldn't relive over three years. She had to live with her current consequences.

"Can I be honest, Chloe?" Max asked.

"Well yeah, of course." Chloe said, looking concerned.

"I wish I still had that picture. I don't want you dead, but you were right, the town would still be intact and I don't want to sound like I regret it but...I kind of do. But if you're with me, and you better be, I think I can live with my decision. You can never leave my side."

"You better, I just decimated an entire city for you."

"I do. Always." Chloe leaned in and pressed her lips against Max's. "Forever."

"Forever is a long time."

"Forever, Max."

She sat up right and started the engine again and kept driving through the city. They passed the Two Whales Diner and heard a scream.

"Chloe, stop!." Max yelled.

Chloe stopped the truck and Max ran out, Chloe fumbled with her seatbelt but met up with Max as she hit the front door. They looked through one of the windows. Nothing. Max sighed and walked over to the side of the diner, hoping the sound was coming from there.

It was.

"Hey!"

Max looked over to see Warren. "How the hell did you make it?" He said, grabbing Max into a tight hug.

"I could ask you the same thing." She began to cry again.

"We ran to Brooke's house and into her basement."

"So more people are alive?" Max practically yelled.

"Yeah. And Joyce and David are alive. Brooke, Frank, Stella, Dana, and Juliet are too."

"My mom is alive?" Chloe shrieked.

"Yeah, she and the other were following me but I saw your truck and ran for it."

"Where?" Chloe demanded.

Warren told them where they were walking and Chloe and Max hopped into Chloe's truck with Warren next to them. They drove not too long before they saw the others, and Chloe stopped the car quick and ran out to pull her mom into a hug.

"Where the hell have you been?" Joyce asked.

"By the lighthouse with Max. She was right about the storm."

Joyce walked over to give Max a hug and pulled away with tears rolling down her cheeks. "Thank you, Max."

Chloe and everyone else began walking and making awkward small talk while Max and David tracked behind.

"Thank you, Max. Even though I didn't believe you, you were right. You saved my step-daughter." David had barely spoke a word to Max since she and Chloe stared dating, only two days after they met up again after five years. "It was nothing. Thanks." Max said.

Everyone pilled into the back of Chloe's truck, it was very uncomfortable for most, except Chloe, Max, and Warren, who sat in the front. Chloe and Max held hands as music played softly on the radio as they drove further. They passed many more buildings. And even though Max still felt guilty and regretted her decision, she had her friends and her girlfriend with her. The tornado took the town, but it shouldn't take her sanity.

They drove passed a sign that read "Thank you for visiting Arcadia Bay!".

Max couldn't stop crying, and Chloe understood.

When they reach a motel the next town over and gather outside for their goodnight's, Chloe makes Max explain her time travel powers. And no one calls her crazy, everyone believes her. It was a relief to finally tell her closest friends that. That night in her and Chloe's motel room, she prays for the first time in months.

She prays for Kate and for Nathan. She prays for Chloe and her family. She prays for her friends. She prays for her parents who are waiting for her, prays for all of Arcadia Bay. Prays for forgiveness for Arcadia Bay and being in a relationship with another woman. She prays to get into Heaven even though she know's that it doesn't work like that. She prays that she won't be charged for murder by Heaven's law. She just prays. She cries the entire time and finishes with an "Amen" as soon as Chloe walks through the door.

"Guess what I just got?" Chloe said, handing a bag over to Max. She opened the bag and dug out a DVD case and two packages of skittles.

"Movie night? Tonight? Are you sure that we should do that?" Max asked

"Look, I know today was shitty, so let's just ignore everything for a good hour and a half to two hours and forget Arcadia Bay even existed. Let's just have a nice night to cover up a bad day."

Max could tell Chloe was fighting the smile on her face, and she did agree on it being a shitty day, so why not? "Okay fine, but I get the dark skittles."

"As always." Chloe popped in the movie and sat next to Max on the bed.

This was bad. So, so bad.

But she couldn't redo it. If given the option though, she would probably do exactly what she did. Her prayer made no since now and her thoughts seemed to become less depressing for the time being. For now she would ignore what happened, ignore every bad thing that happened the past week and just sit and watch the movie her girlfriend picked out.

Tomorrow she would deal with the wreckage.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for deciding to read  
> Kudos are much appreciated (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)


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